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UN war crimes tribunal in Sierra Leone withdraws indictments

UN war crimes tribunal in Sierra Leone withdraws indictments

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The United Nations-backed war crimes tribunal for Sierra Leone announced today that it has formally dropped indictments against two prominent former rebel leaders, Foday Sankoh and Sam Bockarie, saying it has no doubt that the two men have died.

In a press statement issued in Freetown, the capital of Sierra Leone, a spokesman for the Special Court for Sierra Leone - which was partly set up by the UN as the West African country recovers from 10 years of civil war - said the withdrawal of the indictments would enter into the court records.

But the court spokesman, David Crane, said that "does not mean that there will not be a record of what Sankoh and Bockarie did to the people of Sierra Leone."

Mr. Sankoh, who died in a Freetown hospital in July after a long illness, was a former leader of the rebel group Revolutionary United Front (RUF) and had been indicted for war crimes, atrocities and human rights violations.

Mr. Crane said a death certificate records that Mr. Bockarie died in May of gunshot wounds, and several witnesses positively identified the body. Mr. Bockarie had also been a leader of the RUF and was facing war crimes charges.

The Special Court is an independent tribunal set up by the UN and the Government of Sierra Leone. Its task is to bring to justice those who committed atrocities in Sierra Leone after 30 November 1996.